Wednesday, February 28, 2007

I've been thinking about this series of posts for awhile and decided that this is a good time. Everyone seems so bored and it is hard to come up with a post that isn't about snow.

Let me first say that I am not impressed with celebrity. I do not like a person because of who they know. I am not a "fan" of anybody special. I like several TV shows but I am not interested in meeting the stars. I would rather sit at home and watch a concert on TV. I have had a few customers with "celebrity" connections in the past and they do make interesting stories. One of my favorite weekly customers' son-in-law discovered AIDS and was Rock Hudson's doctor. Another's daughter worked for Jim Hansen and the Muppets and her son is an accomplished artist. When I went to her 75th birthday party I met a lady who later was written about in People Magazine.

I have a good friend, Lloyd, who also has a "celebrity connection". Can you guess who he's connected to by the way he's dressed?You're right! He has a connection to Lucy! I have really enjoyed this connection even though I am not a major fan. I know you FANS are going to be upset that this is wasted on me but I will be sharing pictures and stories with you about this connection.

Do you have any guesses as to what Lloyd's connection to Lucy is? Leave your ideas in the comments. I'll let you know tomorrow!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I was hungry for spaghetti and meatballs so I invited the family over for dinner. Nothing fancy just spaghetti and meatballs, salad and and garlic bread. I always make my sauce from scratch and cook it all day. Here's a little tip that I learned from my ex's Italian grandmother. We don't like sweet sauce but the tomato products are always a little bitter. To remove the bitter taste, add a pinch or two of baking soda to the warm sauce ( I add it before I add anything else) and stir. When it quits foaming add other spices. I never add sugar to my sauce.I do have living and dining rooms in my house but we always end up in the kitchen or bedroom!We change Jerzie on my bed and Aunt Laurie and Daddy play with her.

My awesome son-in-law, Chris (He said I could use his pic if I said how awesome he is! hehe) works on my computer which is in my bedroom.Mommy pushing Jerzie over with a finger and making her laugh.We have always had a lot of fun just getting together but it's even more fun now that we have Jerzie for entertainment.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

I told you I was sick of snow! I took all of my snowpeople down today! I usually leave them up until spring but just couldn't handle it any more. This blog is next, as soon as my wonderful, talented son-in-law has time!I don't have the house put back yet but I'll work on it tomorrow while I watch Jerzie.I like to change some things around a little when I take decorations down.

I made one of my favorite snacks and thought you might like it.These are the ingredients. As you can see I use everything sugar free or low fat. A friend who's diabetic said she could eat it if she used no sugar Cool Whip. Start with room temp cream cheese and beat in pudding mix and cool whip. When well blended stir in pineapple with juice. Refrigerate for a couple hours.I use graham cracker sticks but you can use plain graham crackers.Just dip and eat! Delicious and very low cal. I usually eat it for lunch. Enjoy!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

When my kids see this post I'm going to be in big trouble! As I've said before I have a deck that is on the second floor of my house. That deck has a roof. I used to be worried about the weight of the snow on the almost flat roof so I would shovel the roof. Last year I decided that I'm in no shape (too old and sore from fibromyalgia) to do that anymore and if the roof collapsed I'd just call my insurance agent. I said I was not going out there anymore! Well, I'm having some leakage on my bedroom ceiling from the ice on the roof backing up. I told Laurie that I just couldn't worry about it and I'd just have to repaint the ceiling. This morning I saw more spots so..... when I got done work I went up stairs and thawed the storm window and climbed out the window with my snow shovel and ice chopper. That's me with one foot out the window!I figured I might as well take some pictures while I was up there. That's my brown shed.You can see the hedge that I had to shovel off the other day. The close buildings that you see don't have a street to them. There are long driveways that come between the top row of houses. My property line goes to the garage and ends at the fireplace (not mine)next to itIt's really a beautiful day. Look at that blue sky! Can you tell we're on the third floor?I shoveled some snow where the water seems to come in . See how thick the ice is. I chopped as much as I could without damaging the roof.Hopefully I didn't make it worse. Obviously, since I am writing about this I am back inside safe and sound! Laurie, I didn't get stuck in the window! (She's afraid because of my fibro I won't be flexible enough to get in and out the window).

Friday, February 23, 2007

Thanks for your comments on how you became a blogger! C'mon, Hope, bite the bullet and join us! Thanks for your kind comments.

Yes, I still have my real Christmas wreath on the front door. I got it for $15. at the grocery store I work at and it hasn't dropped a needle yet so why take it down.

I did not expect to blog about this again but I didn't expect what we got either. Can you read this yard stick? No it isn't upsidedown! 12 inches on the beauty shop steps! I'm not sure how much it actually snowed because the wind was unreal and I have drifts where I never have before. Like about 18 inches at my front door! Believe it or not there is a concrete step in front of my door. I don't remember ever pushing snow with the door to get out. It was about 6 inches at my back door and it's covered with a deck. It's a good thing the snow was light !

It's not too cold today. 16 right now and beautiful sunshine. I need to go out and dig out my car so I can go to work tonight.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

How did you get involved in this wonderful place called blogland? What exactly brought you into our blogworld and what made you decide to stay. What made you decide to be a member of this community and not just a "lurker"? If you aren't a writing member then why not? Inquiring minds (or at least I) want to know!

I was first introduced to blogs thru my friend and customer, Dawn. She told me that she had a blog and gave me her address. Before that, all I had ever heard about blogs was that school kids were writing rumors and lies about other kids and that it had become so bad that some kids were actually committing suicide over it.(People article, I believe)

Well, being a curious person I had to see what this blog stuff was all about. It didn't take long to become hooked! I checked out favorites and followed links and wished I could respond to some challenges. I told my daughter about it and she was hooked, too. I didn't have a digital camera or a scanner at the time. My son and his wife gave me a scanner for Christmas (I hadn't even mentioned it) but I liked the pictures on the blogs so still needed a camera. Next thing you know my daughter starts a blog! She is now having a give away to celebrate her 200th post (so go sign up!) By this time I'm reading several and responded a couple times. Laurie and Chris decided they needed a better camera so after much consideration they bought a new one.They lent me their old one and it didn't take long before I joined the blogging community!

When I started I wasn't sure what I would write about and I'm sure I write stuff that no one is interested in but I'm having fun and that what it's all about! Sure I'd like more readers at times but it's really for me, not how many readers I have.

Most of you know that I work 2 jobs and don't have a lot of time for socializing. I had a sort of "life change" 3 years ago that almost totally wiped out my circle of "friends". In blogland, I can visit my friends when ever it is convenient for me. Visiting makes me sit and relax in between jobs. How else could I take a walk in California, see a garden in Germany or check out someones collections or home decor? I'm too poor and motion sick to travel and I'd much rather sleep in my own bed at night!

Thank you all my blog friends for filling a space in my life that desperately needed filling!

I challenge you to let us know how you got started! If you don't have a site leave an anonymous comment. If you do just leave me a comment so I can check out your story. Remember, inquiring minds want to know!!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

We were challenged by Dawn to show what is inside our purses. I have slowly become pretty organized. All my little stuff is in something. My daughter made the date book and pen, gave me the credit card holder and the cute pad with a cover, all in my Christmas stocking this year.( She also gave me the felted purse, which I love!) I had to go out in my back yard today Can you tell how deep the snow is? Up to my knees in some spots. I forgot to get the ice chopper out of the shed when I got out the snow thrower. I also had to shovel the snow off my hedge at the back of my lawn. Parts of it was laying on the ground from the snow. Hopefully it isn't broken and will stand up now that the weight is off.It's sunny and 36 right now. Things are melting pretty fast but we're supposed to get more snow tomorrow.

I downloaded Jerzie's pictures in yesterdays post again so maybe they'll come up for you now.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

I thought this picture would make everyone feel better about their weather. This is Route 11 near Oswego, NY. I told you they had 11 or 12 feet! I don't know about you but I think I'll quit complaining!Today Jerzie is 7 months old. She loves to lay on the floor and play but if you walk out of the room for a minute you never know where she'll be when you get back. She gets where she wants to go by rolling. Well, I walked out of the room yesterday and when I came back...

...she had rolled over to the table where her books are. I wish I had seen how she got that book off the top of that stack, but I didn't.

I did have to help a little because she kept hitting her head on the table trying to get the book out from under it. She was not about to give up! I have no idea where she gets her stubbornness from!

Of course after all that work Grandma had to read to her for awhile.

She almost looks like she's trying to crawl here but she hasn't quite figured that out yet.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Presidents Day was one of our favorite days when my kids were growing up. As I've said before, we were pretty poor so I had to find cheep things to do. Going to Poppy and Rene's camp was one or those things that we loved to do, even in winter!The first year I took peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and hot chocolate but we realized there was always wood on the porch so after that we took hot dogs and marshmallows and had a fire.These snow men are supposed to be Poppy and Rene who were all warm in Florida for the winter.We were lucky that Pres. Day always turned out to be a nice day. It didn't do any good to go inside because there was no heat, water or electric in the winter. We always ended the day with a walk in the woods.These pictures came from a scrapbook my daughter made of her brothers life. I told her to just put in the original pictures because they would end up with them anyway. Now that I'm blogging I wish I had some of the pics. I borrowed my sons scrapbook to surprise Laurie but she posted about the same memories. I should have known she wouldn't let this day pass!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Don't you just love old pictures? I love the brown toned the most even if I don't know the people.I can't help but wonder what was going on. I found this as I was going thru my pictures. The man in back on the left is my Grandpa and the one on the right is my Grandma's brother-in-law.I'm pretty sure the lady next to him is my Grandma's sister, Cecil and the one in front to his left is Grandma. The sober faces and hats make it hard to tell. I can't help but wonder if they were sober for a reason or if they were just fooling around to make a picture! What ever was going on I love it! They look like pretty tough characters but I can assure you they weren't!This is my Dad (yes, he's in a dress) and his sister, Sagrid with their mother and aunt. I'll have to tell you their story sometime as it is quite interesting.This is my Mom and her two brothers Walt and Bill. Don't you love their outfits? From the stories I've heard they weren't as sweet as the look in the picture! This is my absolute favorite of my Mom when she was young. Her and my Uncle Walt in a row boat. I have no idea where this was taken but I love it bare feet and all. The grin on my Mom's face and her sailor hat make me smile every time I look at it. It's one of those pictures that I would enjoy even if it wasn't my Mom. I hope it put a smile on your face too!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

Mastectomy Bill in Congress

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important... please take the time and do it really quick!

Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill

- Important legislation for all women.Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. .

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed.PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number. This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women, THANKS.

Friday, February 16, 2007

I got this book for Jerzie for Valentines Day and I think it is a super book! I especially like that the illustrations make it for a boy or a girl. Here are a few of the first pages. It goes on to walking, talking and dressing. Then it talks about becoming anything you want to be from a pet shop owner to a doctor. These are the last few pages and, to me, the most important.This is the back of the book.This is a soft cover book and I found it for $3.99 (!!) at K-Mart . After checking the publishers web site I discovered you can buy a hard cover at Amazon or Barnes & Noble for $7.99. When I get a chance I think I'll buy a hard cover, too. The author is Sophie Piper and the illustrator is Kristina Stephenson. In my opinion, it is a super book for any occasion and was a perfect valentine gift for my special valentine!